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“THE GYPSY ROSE”
The newest Pirate Ship on the Mississippi
River
By Sherri Stanzcak
04-13-10
 There
is a lot of history of pirates on the Mississippi River back in the
1800’s. They terrorized, robbed and even killed people who traded on
the river. It’s hard to believe sometimes that the peaceful islands
that hundreds of boaters go to each summer were once hideouts for
these horrific pirates.
We happen to have two new river pirates parading the Alton Pool area
now. Captain Tim Woodson and Martha Ifland spent a couple of months
and many hours building a replica of a pirate ship. With Tim’s
artistic abilities and vivid imagination, he had no written plans
except a small drawing on a napkin. He knew in his mind what he
wanted it to look like.
Tim and Martha met in 2006 on Martha’s birthday at Smitty’s. Martha
was born in Michigan and raised in India. Tim was born in Arkansas
and raised in St. Louis and California. Tim is self-employed as a
commercial artist and he is also a musician. He enjoys singing and
playing the guitar at several bars along the river. Martha works for
a travel agency called Maritz Journeys. This is how they came up
with the name for the pirate ship: Tim wanted to call it the Sea
Dragon, but he had bought a boat that was already named The Gypsy
Rose a few years ago, and he owned it when he met Martha. Martha
wanted to call it The Gypsy Rose because she says Tim is a gypsy and
her middle name is Rose. Then they googled Gypsy Rose and found out
she was a famous vaudeville dancer in the early days so they decided
to use it as their pirate ship’s name.
Construction on the ship began in mid August of 2009; only one year
after Tim received his Captain’s license. The boat started out as a
1977 Carver Mariner. This 28’ boat was re-powered in 1998. It was
bought from John Love in Port Charles. The boat’s name was the “Love
Shack”.
The first step in building this ship was removing the railings,
stripping the boat and adding wood from the rub rail up. They added
many wooden structures made of cedar since it is lighter and is
treated so it weathers well. They stained the wood to make it look
authentic, added ropes, lanterns, skulls, crow’s nest, and even a
plank. They also use a genuine ship’s wheel and barrels for seating.
The barrels were purchased from someone who found them in the attic
of a house they bought in 1951. After doing some research they
discovered the barrels came from Maplewood in the 1920s. There are
twin 351 Windsor motors in this beauty.
To make this ship more stable, they put outriggers which came from a
catamaran on the bottom. They also reinforced the sides for
strength. This 5 ton ship is now 40’ long x 13.5’ wide x 25’ tall.
It can hold 4000 pounds or 20 people.
With the help from Bill and Jim Burkholder, who were a huge help to
Tim and Martha, this project was completed in mid October 2009, just
two months after they started – 70 days to be exact. They did do
some modifications in March 2010 to the fly-bridge and they are in
the midst of designing a bimini top with a skull and crossbones on
it. This will look amazing from the air or even from the Clark’s
Bridge.
Gypsy Rose took its maiden voyage to Grafton and transported 18
pirates to the Grafton Marina. It has also been to Palisades, some
of the sandbars and they plan to go to Alton this summer.
 Captain
Tim and Martha will be doing parties on the ship this year. Kid's
parties will include eye patches, a photo with the Captain, treasure
maps & then a treasure hunt on the beach. Parties are $150 per hour,
with a two hour minimum. Grafton cruises will also be available for
$25 per person. There will also be daily tours of the ship while it
is docked.
The Gypsy Rose is docked at Port Charles all year long. I’m sure you
will be able to see this beautiful ship parading up and down the
Mississippi River this year.
To view photos of this ship being built, please
click here to see an awesome slideshow. You will see how
the boat looked before, during construction and afterwards.
It’s absolutely amazing!
Arrrgh !
See You On The River
Photos by John Strum |
Capt'n
Tim and Crew on Fox2.........